Thursday 10th December 2020 Day 261
9.00 If you want to get a dog that doesn’t shed any hair, get a Labradoodle. In fact that was a big part of the reason my daughter chose Audrey. The only trouble is that we discovered that this does not apply to a first cross and Audrey sheds both hair (poodle) and fur (Labrador) in a major way, so here is a double whammy. Her coat floats gently about the house and gets everywhere, skirting boards, shelves, furniture, which means that my hoover and duster are out a couple of times a day, especially when it is the actual summer or winter moult when it is unbelievable. I have just finished the morning hoover and now she is getting a good brush of the curly coat. Very time consuming, dogs!
I wonder if we should be thinking about a new sort of doorstep etiquette? A friend I hadn’t seen for quite a while turned up on my doorstep last night. I hate not being able to have a hug and say come on in I’ll make you a cup of tea. Instead she stood back (well until Audrey decided here was a stroking opportunity) and I stood inside my doorway in the warm, albeit the heat was rushing out. We talked for some time and it was lovely to see her but maybe what I should have done in that situation, which happens quite often, is go and get a hat and coat on and go outside and join my visitor. I will do that next time. I don’t know if Father Christmas will be visiting me this year but he tends not to come to the door.
10.25 Unbelievably I am going to meet my friend Wendy again for a third ‘go’ at the woods we got so hopelessly lost in this summer, on a boiling hot day with no water and phones on the blink. I have installed a really good compass on my phone that even I can understand so as long as I work out where we are in the little car park where we will meet, we shouldn’t get lost…………more to follow if I get back.
13.45 Well we went on a much longer walk than intended and miraculously did not get lost, although we were both quite surprised when we finally got back to where we started so there was some element of luck there. It certainly was wet though, the streams had become rivers and we played Pooh sticks from one bridge because we never grow up! We walked alongside the river and then on up into the denser part of the woods where the paths are now shallow waterways so it was luck we both had our wellies on.
I have finally relented and got a few Christmas decs out, it will be very minimal this year but lots of lights, I love Christmas lights.